Team Trinidad and Tobago bag more Carifta bronze medals

TEAM TTO, coming off an underwhelming second day at the 51st Carifta Games on March 31, will be seeking to pick up some elusive individual gold medals today – the third and final day of competition – at the Kirani James Stadium in Saint George’s, Grenada.

The national track and field athletes captured three bronze medals in the individual events by press time on March 31. Their bronze medals, by that stage, carried Trinidad and Tobago’s individual medal tally to ten (six bronze, four silver).

Jenna-Marie Thomas and Dorian Charles picked up a medal each in their track events, while Tyrique Vincent won TT’s third bronze medal on the day in the boys under-17 high jump, adding to the silver medal he earned in the long jump on the opening day.

Thomas, 16, got TT’s medal hunt under way on March 31, winning bronze in the girls under-17 400m hurdles in a competitive final.

She clocked one minute, 1.03 seconds – agonisingly short of the race winner, Jamaica’s Nastassia Fletcher (1:00.10) and runner-up Darvinique Dean of the Bahamas (1:00.66). TT’s Durlaina Rouse finished fifth in 1:07.73.

Shortly after, Dorian Charles won TT’s second bronze of the day and fifth overall, placing third in the boys under-20 400m hurdles.

Charles crossed the finish line in 52.70 seconds, short of winner Shamer Blake (51.21 seconds) and his Jamaican compatriot Princewell Martin (51.34 seconds).

Vincent cleared 1.90m in the high jump on March 31, good enough for a podium spot.

Jaidi James came closest to securing TT’s first medal on March 31 when he placed fourth in the boys under-20 long jump.

He landed 6.78m on his fourth and best attempt – a considerable distance behind the bronze medal recipient’s 7.32m.

Shezlon Gordon placed sixth in the boys under-17 400m hurdles, clocking 56.08 seconds. Jamaica’s Robert Miller won that race in 52.19 seconds, obliterating the 14-year-old competition record of 52.75 seconds held by Bahamian Stephen Newbold.

Kadeem Chinapoo, boys under-17 100m silver medallist on March 30, stormed to a first place overall finish in the 200m dash preliminaries and into April 1’s final after clocking 21.68 seconds.

Twin sisters Sole and Sanaa Frederick booked their places in April 1’s girls under-20 200m final after clocking the third and fourth fastest times overall in their respective preliminaries. Sanaa was the runner-up in heat one in 23.66 seconds, and Sole won heat three in 23.18 seconds.

TTO was represented in the girls under-17 200m dash by Tianna Richardson, who placed 11th in the preliminaries but was unable to advance.

TT picked up seven medals – four silver and three bronze – on March 30, the first day of competition.

Peyton Winter won TTO’s first silver, doing so in the girls under-17 shot put, with an effort of 14.21m. Keneisha Shelbourne, Tyrique Vincent, and Kadeem Chinapoo also won silver medals.

Shelbourne recorded a new personal best throw of 12.49m en route to a runner-up finish in the girls under-20 triple jump.

He was 0.04m shy of taking the gold from Joshua Williams of the Bahamas, who took the victory on his last effort.

While TT did not feature in the boys under-20 100m final, Kadeem Chinapoo did manage to win the silver in the preceding boys under-17 final, clocking an impressive 10.59 seconds – just short of Jamaican Nyron Wade’s golden time of 10.43 seconds. TT’s Cameron Nathaniel-Powell (10.86) finished fifth.

Shain Lewis, Kayleigh Forde, and Tenique Vincent also picked up silverware for TT. Lewis took bronze in the girls under-17 1,500m final, clocking 4:48.58.

Forde also finished third for a bronze, clocking 4:41.71 in the girls under-20 1,500m final. Vincent, twin sister of Tyrique, won TT’s other bronze medal. She cleared 1.68m in the girls under-17 high jump, narrowly behind Jamaican Zavien Bernard and Alexandria Komolafe of the Bahamas, both of whom cleared 1.71m.

The meet will resume at 9 am on April 1 with the finals of several field events and the preliminaries in the hurdles and relays.

The competition will end after April 1’s evening session, featuring the 200m and 800m events, hurdles, girls’ field events, and the 4x400m relay finals.